There's Always Us
by The-Daughter-of-Rome
Summary: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO I AM BIANCA DAUGHTER OF HADES! On the anniversary of Gaea's defeat, Reyna plans a little something to cheer up the demigods. Not everyone is in the mood, though-Piper's mad at Leo (he doesn't know why, either), and Jason's still trying to figure out how he feels about Reyna. Contains Liper and Jeyna; T for alcohol/drug references.


**First of all, I'm going to apologize, Bianca. I'm so sorry this is two days late. (I've been pretty busy this past week.) But I hope this is long enough-and good enough-to make up for it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! **

**Second, I've included a few lines from "You And Me," by Lifehouse. I think it kind of fits this song. **

**Third, be warned-this includes Liper and Jeyna fluff. I have forewarned you all. **

**Last, the beginning contains a few references from my story "Eavesdroppers." This is set in the same timeframe as Eavesdroppers-which is to say, a year after the last Heroes of Olympus book. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything-not PJO, HOO, Lifehouse, the Hunger Games, MLP, or Kool-Aid. Or anything else that I forget to list that was mentioned in this story. **

* * *

_What day is it? And in what month? _

_This clock never seemed so alive_

_I can't keep up and I can't back down_

_I've been losing so much time_

* * *

Jason stared at his reflection in the mirror. Sky blue eyes. A little crescent-shaped scar on his upper lip. Neatly cut blonde-_ish _hair.

A little ruefully, he touched his hair. And sighed.

A couple of weeks ago, he'd been caught eavesdropping on Reyna and Leo. As punishment, Reyna had turned his hair pink—yes, _pink!_—and his hair _still _wasn't back to its original color.

Well, it had been worse before. Instead of being hot pink, his hair was now mostly blonde with a few highlights of strawberry-blonde.

The worst part of the pink-hair spell had been trying to lie his way around Piper.

That first night, at dinner, she'd asked him, "So, are you going to tell me why you changed your hair color?"

He'd shrugged. "Somehow I let Dakota talk me into getting a dye job. I chose brown for the color, 'cause I wanted to be a brunette for fun, but then…" he trailed off.

"You wanted to be a brunette? Why?" She smiled at him, clearly amused.

"I like chocolate. 'Nuff said."

Lying about it hadn't worked with Leo, who teased him regularly about this latest tragedy that had befallen him.

"I'm gonna call you Pinkie Pie from now on," Leo had joked.

Jason responded in mock horror, "Pinkie Pie? Oh, no. Nico's gotten to you, hasn't he?"

"WHOA. NICO WATCHES MLP NOW TOO? MY OPINION OF HIM JUST IMPROVED."

With that, Leo had run off screaming, "WHERE'S NICO? I MUST FANBOY WITH HIM."

It was a known fact that the ambassador of Pluto was a My Little Pony addict.

Annabeth had found his new change in appearance rather amusing, to be sure. But she hadn't asked.

With that genius daughter-of-Athena-brain of hers, she'd probably put two and two together already. It had only taken a few glimpses of Reyna, who was avoiding looking at Jason directly but kept smiling for no apparent reason, and Leo's _very subtle_ looks between the two of them.

Percy hadn't bothered asking. Maybe because he hadn't noticed until most of it had already faded. Jason remembered staring at Percy incredulously as he asked, "Hey, when did you get reddish highlights?"

Oh, good old Percy.

* * *

"Earth to Jason," a voice said from behind the son of Jupiter. "Are you done staring at yourself in the mirror?"

Jason didn't even bother to turn around. "Hey, Leo."

"You know, we all know how good-looking you are, but do _you _have to stare at yourself all the time too?" Leo shook his head. "Don't go Narcissus on me, man."

Jason turned around this time. "Pssh. Narcissus? He's from, like, two thousand years ago. Finnick Odair's the cool one now."

Leo frowned, stroking his chin like he was thinking hard. "Mmm, no. You look more like Peeta than Finnick."

"Cool. I'm the boy with the bread."

"Yep. And I'm the boy on fire," Leo added.

"I thought Katniss Everdeen was the _girl _on fire. There's no boy on fire, Leo."

"There is in Leo World." The son of Hephaestus grinned.

"News flash: you don't live in Leo World."

"Says you," Leo scoffed.

Jason decided it would be better not to dignify that with a response. "So, why did you decide to interrupt me?"

"Do you remember what day it is today?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jason asked while desperately racking his mind to figure out what day it was.

"Um, dude, it's the summer solstice."

"Oh, great," Jason muttered.

Leo looked him over. "What?"

"Remember how we spent _last year's _summer solstice?" Jason said. He shut his eyes, trying to fight the flashbacks.

Swords clanging. Monsters hissing. Someone screaming in pain… and underneath it all, Gaea's rumbling laughter.

"You think I could forget?" Leo asked quietly. "I revisit it every night."

Judging from the haunted look on his face, Leo wasn't exaggerating.

"So…" Jason started, trying to force a bright tone. "What were you going to say?"

"Reyna figured that the anniversary of that whole mess would bring everyone down… so we're having a party tonight."

"Really?" Jason couldn't stop the surprise from coloring his voice.

"Yeah. I know, that doesn't sound much like her. But she was in a really bubbly mood when she planned this."

"Was this during one of your magic lessons?"

"How'd you guess?"

"That's like the only time Reyna's ever in a _bubbly _mood. I seem to make her either depressed or angry all the time."

"Not all the time," Leo said. "She was laughing and smiling in your presence the past few weeks."

"Yeah, because my hair was pink. She was laughing _at _me, not _with _me."

"Yeah, well, that still counts as laughing."

Jason swallowed down a surge of annoyance. For some reason, it really irked him that Reyna could be so happy around Leo and not him.

He missed the way things had been before he'd left. Wait, no—he missed the way things had been before that stupid quest in Charleston. Before Reyna had talked to that spirit, the two of them had never been closer. But after… after, she had never acted quite the same around him. She'd distanced herself from him, in a way; she'd shut herself down whenever they talked.

"So, are you going to come?" Leo asked.

"Yeah. Definitely. Is it casual, or formal, or—"

"Casual." Leo paused before adding, "Would you pass it on to Piper?"

"Sure. But can I ask, why aren't you telling her?"

"Oh…" He shrugged. "For some reason she's just mad at me. I don't know what I did this time."

Leo turned and left.

Jason wondered if Piper had noticed Leo going over to Reyna's all the time. Quite a lot of gossip had sprung up about that; most of the rumors were pretty racy.

If she'd gotten wind of that gossip, he wondered which rumor she'd heard.

* * *

Piper was talking and laughing with Hazel and Annabeth.

Jason approached. "Hey, Pipes."

She stopped mid-laugh and said, "Hey, Jason."

"Am I interrupting anything?" he asked.

"Nah, not really," Annabeth responded.

"Oh. Well, Leo told me to tell you that there's going to be a summer solstice party tonight. Semiformal wear."

"A party? On the summer solstice? What, doesn't Reyna remember what happened _last year _on the solstice?" Piper asked.

Jason shrugged helplessly. "Leo said that she figured everyone would be kind of down today, since it's the anniversary and all that. So she planned a party."

Annabeth spoke. "Why didn't Leo just come and tell us directly?"

"I don't know," he said. "He told me that Piper was mad at him about something. _Are _you mad at him about something, Pipes?"

Piper shrugged, but Jason noted that she was scowling slightly.

"Well, he probably deserves it," Hazel joked lightly. "What'd he do this time?"

"Actually, he doesn't even _know _he's annoying me this time," Piper said. "Which is worse, because I can't tell him to knock it off if he doesn't know what he's doing."

Annabeth had her _I'm-thinking-and-I'm-about-to-figure-something-out _expression on. Jason could always tell she was figuring something out, because her gray eyes looked like they were miles and miles away.

Then Annabeth's eyes brightened and cleared. She looked at Piper quizzically, then at Jason, and then back at Piper.

"Hey, Jason, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked.

Jason nodded. "Sure."

Annabeth led him away, and when they were safely out of earshot, she spoke.

"I kind of figured out why Piper's upset at Leo."

"Really? I'd been wondering about that."

"Jason, have you noticed that Leo's been spending a lot of time with Reyna lately?"

"Yeah," he said. No point in lying—Annabeth would see right through him.

"I think Piper's a little jealous," she went on. "I mean, she's known Leo for a long time and—"

"Why would she be jealous?"

"She's pretty close to Leo, you know." Annabeth added quickly, "I'm not saying in any particular way, but—"

"Yeah, they're good friends," Jason said. He'd picked up on Annabeth's accidental implication, but was pretending he hadn't.

"Right. Well, I think she feels a bit protective of him, and what with all those… _rumors_ floating around…"

"None of those rumors are true," Jason said.

"I thought not," Annabeth agreed. "None of them sounded like something Reyna or Leo would do."

"Which ones did you hear?"  
"Oh, um…" the daughter of Athena was struggling to keep a straight face. Her face was flushed pink slightly.

"Yeah, I heard that one too." Jason blushed, just thinking about it. Dakota had been the one to start that rumor. Go figure. The son of Bacchus was known for having a rather dirty mind, especially when he was Kool-Aid drunk.

"I also heard a more conventional one," Annabeth said, clearly trying to change the conversation track. "Someone was guessing that Leo and Reyna are secretly dating."

Even though Jason knew that one wasn't true, either, he had to force down a surge of anger. He didn't know where that had come from, but he was definitely angry that someone thought his Greek best friend and his Roman best friend were going out.

_Why? _He asked himself. _Why do I care? I have Piper._

Even so, he couldn't shut up the tiny corner of his consciousness that was raving, "Those two don't belong together!"

_Because she's mine, _he thought. Then he caught himself.

"Jason, are you okay?" Annabeth inquired.

"Uh… yeah. Fine."

She cleared her throat. "I don't mean to pry… but someone told me about your history with Reyna."

Probably Gwen.

He replied, "Yeah. We were friends for a long, long time. Go on."

"Did you… did you ever…"

"What?"

"Did you ever feel about her… the way you feel about Piper?"

"That's none of your business," he said abruptly.

"Sorry. I was just curious and—"

"But it's okay. I kind of want to get it off my chest."

Annabeth stopped trying to apologize and looked at him curiously.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Who would I tell?" she asked. "I'm no gossip."

"Right. I trust you." He took a deep breath. "Once… I thought maybe… maybe she and I were meant to be. But that wasn't the case, I guess. Apparently Venus—um, Aphrodite—had everything planned out from the beginning. I kept trying to hint to her that maybe I wanted to be a bit more than just friends and coworkers, but… you know Reyna. Toss her onto a battlefield any day, and she can take it. But I swear, sometimes the little things go completely over her head. So I guess I kind of gave up, because she didn't seem interested."

"You know, Reyna likes you a lot. A lot more than she lets on."

"Yeah, right. She's got _Leo _now," he said bitterly. "I mean, they're just friends now, but he seems so much better for her than I ever was. Leo can make her laugh so easily. I like seeing her happy and everything, but at the same time I can't stand it! Does that make any sense?"

Annabeth looked thoughtful. "Well, I'm pretty sure she likes you."

"What makes you say that, anyway?"

"Remember that day we first came to Camp Jupiter?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"She wasn't looking for anyone on the _Argo II _but you, Jason. And you should've seen how she looked at you."

Jason didn't really remember that. A year ago, he had been utterly caught up in Piper. Her beauty, her charm, her voice, her capability. But that infatuation had started to drain away these past few months. Sure, she was still a beauty. She would always be. But lately he'd been wondering if she was the one he wanted to be with forever and beyond in life.

"Anyway," Annabeth continued, "I know how to prove to you that she likes you."

"How?"

"Go to the party tonight and ask her to dance. If she turns you down, you'll know she's not interested. If she says yes… well, then, you'll know."

* * *

Reyna smiled as she watched the chaos that she had just organized. Balloons and streamers? Check. Loud pop music? Check. Plenty of snacks and drinks? Check.

She'd been sure to supply lots and lots of Kool-Aid. If the whole legion ended up drunk, then so be it. Tonight would be a night to lose yourself in high spirits.

Next to her, Leo whistled appreciatively. "I didn't know you were capable of bringing such life to a party."

"I'm choosing to take that as a compliment," she replied, giving him a trademark glare. She held it for about half a second before her lips tugged into a grin. "You look nice today."

Leo flushed slightly at the compliment. He'd taken the time to comb his unruly hair flat. In the end, he'd thought it made him look really dorky, but apparently Reyna approved.

"You too," he said.

Reyna laughed. "Well, I decided I was going to dress casual like I told everyone else to."

Instead of her typical purple cloak and uniform, the praetor wore a pale yellow t-shirt and denim shorts. Her hair was loose, instead of braided back neatly.

Leo couldn't help thinking that this was how she ought to dress. Tonight, Reyna looked like any other teenage girl in the country. It seemed much healthier for her.

"Jason's bringing Piper. Are you going to be okay with that?" he asked, bracing himself for a sudden change in her demeanor.

"Sure." She shrugged. "I'm going to show everyone that I can have fun, Jasper or otherwise."

"Jasper? Who's Jasper?"

"It's a pairing name. You know, like how Percy and Annabeth make up Percabeth."

"… Who made this up?"

"Dakota. Who else?"

"Ah. I see."

"Yes."

There was an awkward pause before Leo said, "Are you going to get up on the stage and do your safety talk?"

"Sure. I think almost everyone's here now." With that, Reyna turned and walked up onto the makeshift stage that had been constructed only a few hours earlier.

"Good evening, New Rome!" she shouted into the microphone. "How are y'all doing?"

There was a muddled response that included yells of, "Great, thanks for asking!" "Why do you care?" and "Is this your safety talk again?"

Reyna waited a moment for the hubbub to die down. "Yes, this is my safety talk again."

Groans rippled through the crowd.

"But since you all know it already, I'm giving you the ten-second version!"

Cheers erupted.

"One: try not to kill anyone. Two: you can drink however much Kool-Aid you want, but I am not responsible for anything that you do or say while drunk. So drink at your own risk. Three: have fun!"

And with that, Reyna hopped off the stage.

"That was brief," Leo commented.

She shrugged. "Well, we're going to have fun tonight." Her eyes were gleaming. "I didn't want to be such a rule-pusher."

"That's so OOC for you."

"What's OOC?"

"Out of character."

"Oh. Where'd you get that?"

"This cool website online. I forget what it's called, but they have good Twilight fan stories."

"You read Twilight—"

"Did you know that's what _Fifty Shades of Grey _was originally based off of?"

"Why do you know this?"

Leo coughed. "Um… no reason."

"Please tell me you haven't read that book."

"Okay, I won't."

Reyna couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"All I'm going to say is, Jason has some pretty weird things on his bookshelf—Wow, Rey, your face is all red. Are you okay?"

"Just fine." She burst out laughing. "Gods, Jason's such a perv."

Leo shook his head. "You haven't even looked at the things he downloads on his computer."

"Why are you looking at his computer?"

"… I was extremely bored, okay?"

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation right now," Reyna sighed. She started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go drink some Kool-Aid. I need to forget this conversation."

"Suit yourself. Just remember, I'm not going to be responsible for anything you say or do while you're drunk."

Reyna stopped walking. "I changed my mind, actually. I don't want to end up doing something I'll regret later on."

"Thattagirl."

"You want to go find Jason and Piper?"

"Why? Piper's kind of mad at me right now, and I don't know why."

"Well," Reyna smiled slyly, "it would be really hilarious if, for some reason, we got the power couple Kool-Aid drunk."

"That's not really nice," Leo began, but then cut himself off. "Screw morals. Let's get dem drunk so we can have blackmail."

"Why would you need blackmail?"

"Oh, you never know…" Leo grinned devilishly.

* * *

Jason wasn't really having much fun. Piper was standing next to him, arms crossed. They weren't talking, just kind of hanging around.

"You want to dance?" Jason asked.

She shrugged. "Not really."

Scanning the crowd, Jason saw Annabeth and Percy dancing and laughing. He smiled to himself. Those two were so easy together—the way love was supposed to be.

He glanced at Piper. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"No."

At that moment, who should appear but Leo and Reyna.

"Hey, it's the boy on fire," Jason joked while trying to discreetly look at what Reyna was wearing. She looked so different—less intimidating, more approachable, and prettier than ever.

"Hey, it's the boy with the bread," Leo replied. He paused before saying, "I thought you said there was no boy on fire."

Jason shrugged, grinning. "There is in Leo World."

"Welcome to the party, bro."

Reyna pushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear. "What's with the _Hunger Games _nicknames?"

"Long story," Jason responded.

"Do I get a nickname?" Reyna asked.

"Sure," Leo said brightly. "You can be Gale!"

"Why Gale?"

"'Cause you have dark hair like Gale and you get angry like Gale."

"Wow, thanks," Reyna said dryly.

"And, you get to be hot like Gale. I mean, c'mon. You can't get much hotter than angry rebel."

Reyna laughed and punched Leo lightly in the arm. "Oh, Leo."

Piper stiffened.

Jason felt like a hole had been punched into his chest.

"Anyway," Reyna said, "we came over here to ask if you two wanted some Kool-Aid. It's really good."

Jason snorted derisively. "Really?"

"Yep. I had a little earlier."

"That's why you're so happy—you're drunk," Piper said, her voice scathing.

"I don't drink. Didn't you know I'm a crack addict?" Reyna deadpanned.

"Really?" Leo's eyes widened.

"I was joking, Fire Boy. Seriously." She rolled her eyes, grinning all the while.

Something had crawled into the hole in Jason's chest and was chewing on his heart.

"Oh. Well, you seem more of a crack person than, like, a pot smoker or heroin addict."

"So, did you two want some Kool-Aid, or no?" Reyna asked, changing the subject.

Piper hesitated.

Jason shrugged. "Why not? It'll liven things up a bit." He smiled crookedly.

Piper gave in. "Sure. Get me a cup too."

"Be right back," Leo called, before walking over to the drink table.

"You're not usually so sunshiny," Piper commented.

"No, and you're not usually so stormy," Reyna retorted.

"I… you're right. I'm sorry." Piper paused before asking, "So how are things with you and Leo?"

"He's such an idiot. But I don't mind. I never knew idiots could be so endearing." She shook her head, but the corners of her lips curled into a smile.

There was actual pain shooting through Jason now. He had to make it stop, somehow. Any way. Any way he could. He had to distract himself-

"Are you two dating now?" Jason blurted.

"What?" Reyna looked aghast.

Leo returned, carrying two cups of red Kool-Aid. He handed one to Piper and one to Jason.

"What'd I miss?" he asked.

Reyna had a strangled expression on her face. "They—" she gasped, "They think we're dating." She doubled over, shoulders shaking.

At first Jason thought she was sobbing, but then he heard her wild gasps turn into laughter.

"Man, do you have problems." Leo shook his head, staring at Jason and Piper.

Piper shifted her feet uneasily.

Reyna had collapsed to her knees, still cracking up. "Oh—my—gods. Why would you—to think that you—Jupiter almighty!"

"It's not funny!" Jason shouted. "Why are you still laughing?" Red Kool-Aid sloshed out of his cup and onto the ground, but he didn't care.

Leo looked at Jason seriously. "It's not funny. I don't know why she's laughing."

Reyna had recovered, was now winded and gasping for air. "Because—because I thought you knew—"

"Spit it out," Piper snapped.

Leo's face was turning red. "Reyna, I'm going to say my part."

"Go ahead."

He looked Piper in the eye and said, "Jason's going to kill me for this, but I think I love you."

He didn't dare break eye contact, despite the fact that his cheeks were taking on the hue of a ripe strawberry.

The daughter of Aphrodite was at a loss for words. "Leo… I…"

Leo couldn't believe he'd just said that out loud. The stupid party atmosphere must have gotten to him. He knew—he just _knew_—that Piper was seconds from bursting out laughing at him. He wouldn't be able to take that.

He looked at Jason and managed to choke out, "I'm sorry," before turning tail and running into the crowd.

"Leo, wait!" Piper cried. She looked like she wanted to run after him, but she turned to Jason.

"You'd better go after him," Jason said softly.

She hesitated, but then dropped her cup of Kool-Aid and ran into the sea of demigods, yelling Leo's name.

The cup should have fallen, except Reyna used her magic to float it _gently _down. She didn't want a huge mess, after all.

Jason and Reyna were alone.

"So," Jason said, "you knew all along?"

She shrugged. "It was obvious."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"That wasn't my secret to tell," she told him. "He had to say it." She looked at the direction the son of Hephaestus had fled. "I hope it turns out all right. What are you going to do?"

"Do?" he echoed.

"Yes. What are you going to do now that Piper knows?"

He didn't say anything for a long while, only stared at her. Long, black wavy hair. Eyes dark like a moonless night. Face closed off and hard and strong. A face he trusted above all others.

"Well," he finally said, "if it's _him _that she wants… then there's always us."

He reached out and took her hand, trying to read the expression in her eyes.

"Jason…"

He waited.

"I can't believe it took you so long."

"I can't believe it either. I must be some special kind of idiot."

"You are." She was trying not to smile—and failing miserably.

And when they kissed, Jason felt himself literally floating with happiness.

And it was pretty much the best aerial kiss of all time.

* * *

Leo knew she would find him. She always did—for better or worse. So he waited, standing by the _Argo II. _

"Leo, did you really mean what you said?" the voice came from behind him.

"What do you think?" His voice came out as a croak.

"I think… I think that I rather like the idea of you and me."

She hugged him tight, and Leo had never felt safer or happier.

"You know what?" he whispered.

"What?"

"I think that the party was a good idea after all."

* * *

_'Cause it's you and me_

_And all of the people_

_With nothing to do, nothing to lose_

_And it's you and me_

_And all other people_

_And I don't know why,_

_I can't keep my eyes off of you_

* * *

**Again, happy belated birthday to I am Bianca Daughter of Hades! :D **


End file.
